The video that you see details the story of this young, courageous Afghani woman who is also the Co-founder of ACSC (Afghan Citadel Software Company). Today, her company employs more women to give them opportunities to come forward and work in a society like Afghanistan that still has a very limited female workforce.
This young lady, Fereshteh Forough, was born in 1985 in Herat, Afghanistan. After the invasion of the Soviet Union, her family like many other families in the country fled to Iran. She was educated in Iran till her family chose to come back to Afghanistan in the year 2002. Her father was actively involved in the rehabilitation work of Afghani refugees while in Iran. Fereshteh started teaching young girls English after she came to Afghanistan in 2002. She later did her Bachelor in Computer Science in Afghanistan and her Masters in Database Engineering from Berlin University in 2010.
She helped setup ACSC with other friends and is its current Director at Herat. She is also a lecturer in Computer Science faculty at the Herat University. A woman setting up a software company is practically unheard of in Afghanistan. But, Fereshteh and her team took this daring step. They endeavor to employ women in their company to improve their social and IT skills. Her intention is to train more women professionals in software technology so that many more software entrepreneurs like her may come up.
Her stint has not been a cakewalk, as it was difficult to bag projects initially. Her approach was to attend seminars and conferences and spread the word about her company and its competencies. Her company offered to take up projects that allowed free trials to build a customer base and then did the implementation once the client was assured of their skill and competence. She and her company have come a long way in the past couple of years. The company has recently forged alliances with IBM, Pakistan and InfoTech. Citadel offers services such as design and implementation of enterprise software application and databases, website publishing and manipulation, ICT design and establishment, IT solutions and consulting.
She is also collaborating with FilmAnnex’s Afghan Development Initiative that is working towards building schools in Afghanistan and equipping them with internet technology to help take online education to the children of Afghanistan.
Do see the inspirational video above and also read more about FilmAnnex’s Afghan Development Initiative.
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